Conor McGregor says the UFC finally “honored” him before his UFC 329 rematch with Max Holloway, and he says camp is already built around both the perfect finish and the ugly injury scenarios.
McGregor, 22-6 in MMA and 10-4 in the UFC, is a former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion. Holloway, 27-9 in MMA and 23-9 in the UFC, is a former UFC featherweight champion and former BMF titleholder. They meet in a five-round welterweight main event on July 11 in Las Vegas, more than a decade after McGregor beat Holloway by unanimous decision in their August 2013 featherweight fight despite hurting his knee.
“The Mac is back, man. Let’s go,” McGregor said in a Mac Energy clip shared by Championship Rounds. “It’s like a musical. Music to my ears it is. Rob, you know, I’m out so long. Five years. My body’s fresh. My mind is sharp. I’m ready to come back. I’ve got a great opponent. I’ve got a great deal off the UFC. I’m very, very happy. They honored me, finally.”
Watch the first clip below:
Conor McGregor spoke about the Max Holloway rematch for the first time 👀
"I've got a great deal off the UFC. They honored me, finally."
"Preparation is going very well. We're living, breathing, and sleeping in the gym."
"The opponent is a man that I've beaten before. Our last… pic.twitter.com/AWcNvO78g9
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 25, 2026
McGregor called Holloway “an established fighter” and “a quality opponent,” while pointing back to their first meeting as proof of what he believes he can do again.
“The opponent is a man that I have beaten before in Max Holloway,” McGregor said. “So, he is an established fighter, an accomplished fighter. Former UFC world champion, multiple time. So, this is a quality opponent. Indeed. And our last bout was martial arts mastery by yours truly. So, I plan on doing it again. I plan on showing my growth, you know, and my improvements in there. So, I’m very, very excited for it.”
“Preparation is going very well,” McGregor said. “We’re living, breathing, and sleeping in the gym. Literally. I live in the gym. I have a base here and I have a base in my coach John’s gym. And I go between them both. So, training’s going very, very well.”
McGregor Says The Leg Break Changed How He Prepares
McGregor has not fought since UFC 264 in July 2021, when his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier ended after McGregor suffered a broken leg. In the second clip, he said that injury changed how he prepares for a return.
“Now, as I’ve become a lot more experienced in the game, I actually work backwards towards the perfect scenario,” McGregor said. “So I have had a limb break inside the Octagon. So now I must have an answer to that.”
Watch the second clip below:
https://x.com/ChampRDS/status/2058763557244702808
McGregor said he still starts with the dream ending, but now plans for the nightmare version too.
“So I begin, I have the perfect scenario,” McGregor said. “You knock them out with the big backhand, the crowd roars. But then I have the worst case scenario. The shoulder dislocates midway through the first round, what’s my mechanisms? The knee dislocates in the first round, what’s my movements, my reactions? Do I switch the stance or go to my back? I have a whole selection of responses to the worst case scenarios.”
“Now, not that I sit and dwell on them, not that I sit and dwell on them or overthink them, but I just have them,” McGregor said. “So if the ankle goes, if the knee goes, if the shoulder goes, what’s my response? Because the fight’s not over. If you quit, it’s over. If you have a maneuver, you know, you can outlast and you can survive in there and then get towards the victory.”
“So I have found as I have gotten more experience in the fight game to work my way backwards from the worst case scenario to the best case scenario and then focus, focus, focus, prepare, prepare, prepare for the best case scenario,” McGregor said. “And that’s kind of where I’m at right now. So I have every situation that may occur and my answers to it.”
The fight is no soft reset. Holloway has grown from the young featherweight McGregor beat in 2013 into one of the most proven names in the sport, and the rematch already has plenty of outside heat after Holloway called McGregor “a dangerous boy” and Jorge Masvidal picked Holloway to smoke him.
